[Kasey]

We co-slept alot, it started out just me napping with him, we always put him to bed in his crib, he always went right to sleep (we rocked him to sleep in the beginning and by one year, he just would go in, talk with Elmo a minute or two and fall asleep), how we did it was if he awoke in the middle of the night, crying, I would pick him up right away, if he did settle within 5-10 minutes of rocking or rubbing his back, he came to bed with us and generally fell asleep immediately, we have weeks where he may be in our bed in the middle of night several times, or we go weeks without it, but we just go by him and what he needs. These times generally are when he is sick or teething or some change has gone on.
If he is doing well and sleeping well, I see no reason to start this, you can spend lots of great time with him after day care, that is what we do, I also started our bed time routine a half hour earlier when day care started, so we would have extra snug and reading time.
Just watch him for his cues, if he awakens crying or fights bed, do what you need to do, but I personally wouldn't immediately start co-sleeping, if you haven't done it before and if he is sleeping fine in his crib--he will let you know what he needs.
This has worked well for us so far!